Chronological Donald, part three: Day #241 - Donald’s Nephews, Polar Trappers & Good Scouts (1938)
Viewed August 29, 2006
Donald’s Nephews introduced audiences to Huey, Dewey & Louie, Donald’s nephews who would become a Disney fixture from then on. In this one, they are much more true troublemakers than they would later come to be. They seem to really want to cause trouble for Donald, rather than accidently causing it. They come off quite negatively, but it’s easy to see how they would appeal to a young audience and how, with a little tweaking, they became so popular. The humor is basically slapstick, with nothing really clever, but it works for what it is. I suppose the boys were meant to be just another in a string of out-of-control situations for Donald to deal with, but their innate appeal led to more adventures almost immediately.
Polar Trappers is actually billed as a “Donald & Goofy” cartoon, though they share very little screentime. They are on a safari hunt, with Goofy trying to “bring them back alive” and Donald looking for a meal. It seems odd that Donald, a duck, would actually want to eat a penguin, but there you are. In those days, creators didn’t meddle with things like that. (Or as Kenneth Graham put it in The Wind and the Willows, “The Mole knew well that it is quite against animal-etiquette to dwell on possible trouble ahead, or even to allude to it”.) Polar Trappers has some lovely imagry, such as Donald leading a group of penguins like the Pied Piper, but the jokes are often forced and it doesn’t really end satisfactorily. Still, it’s not too bad, just not a classic.
Good Scouts sees the return of Huey, Dewey and Louie, a mere three months after their first appearance. The comedy comes mostly from Donald’s unsuccessful attempts to show the boys how to do things right while on a camping trip. The boys, for their part, come a lot closer to their eventual characterization here. They are much less troublesome for the sake of it and obviously care about their Uncle Donald (though, perhaps, not enough to rescue him from a bear). There are some fine moments here, pointing in the direction the boys would take, getting into different adventures with Donald and then, later, Uncle Scrooge. (Leading to their TV series, DuckTales.) For that reason, this is a short more indicative of their traditional role than Donald’s Nephews.